Nissan Group sold 247,068 vehicles in the U.S. during the first quarter of 2026, down 7.5% from the prior year, but retail sales climbed 9.6% as the company pulled back from lower-margin fleet business. The shift pushed Nissan to what the company calls the fastest growth rate among mainstream brands, with six consecutive months of retail gains and market share expansion in a declining industry.
The performance splits cleanly between passenger cars, which collapsed 37.7% to 69,813 units, and trucks, which jumped 14.4% to 177,255 units. Within the truck category, the Frontier led with 21,411 sales, up 47.9% year over year. The Pathfinder sold 28,554 units, up 45.2%. The Rogue moved 70,174 units, up 13%. The Armada posted 4,593 sales, up 17.5%, and the Kicks sold 29,517 units, up 16.4%. Nissan’s truck and SUV volume now accounts for 70% of total sales, a structural change from a year ago when trucks represented 58% of the mix.
The car side absorbed the strategic contraction. Sentra sales fell 34.5% to 35,732 units. Altima sales dropped 35.9% to 22,971 units. Versa sales declined 46.6% to 10,208 units. The Z sports car sold 899 units, down 58.3%, and the GT-R moved just two units for the quarter. The Ariya electric crossover, which sold 4,148 units in Q1 2025, fell to 56 units in Q1 2026, a 98.6% collapse that Nissan did not address in its release. The Leaf posted 668 sales, down 71.2%.
INFINITI reported 12,750 sales for the quarter, down 3.2% from 13,165 units a year earlier, but the brand outpaced the luxury segment in market share growth. The QX60 three-row crossover accounted for 9,475 of those sales, up 64% and representing 74% of INFINITI’s total volume. The QX80 large SUV sold 2,885 units, down 29%. The QX50 fell 85.3% to 303 units, the QX55 dropped 89.9% to 86 units, and the Q50 sedan sold one unit for the quarter, effectively ending its run. INFINITI also earned recognition as the most improved brand in the J.D. Power Customer Service Index Study, though the company did not disclose its score.
Nissan attributed the retail gains to what it calls a disciplined strategy focused on U.S.-built vehicles. North American production accounted for 213,832 units, down 2.2% from the prior year, while imports fell 41.8% to 20,486 units. The truck-production shift is the clearest signal: North American-built trucks climbed 35.5% to 144,921 units, while imported trucks dropped 40.6% to 19,585 units. Nissan did not specify which models moved from import to domestic production or whether capacity constraints limited the retail upside.
The INFINITI QX65, revealed during the quarter and scheduled to reach dealers in early summer 2026, is expected to add volume in the second quarter. Nissan offered no sales target or pricing for the model. Tiago Castro, senior vice president of U.S. Marketing & Sales for Nissan and INFINITI, said March retail sales increased 7% and that the company is entering the next quarter with confidence and strong demand across both brands.
Whether the retail momentum offsets the fleet pullback through the rest of the year will depend on whether truck demand holds and whether INFINITI can convert QX65 interest into delivered units.
Source: Infiniti. Images courtesy of Infiniti.
